 |
|
|
It’s official: Delhi is ‘rape capital’ of the country
Delhi Police to seek Salem’s custody
Welfare schemes for police personnel
Three arrested for Gurgaon gang rape
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Quick knee fix at Ganga Ram Hospital now
City shivers from chilly winds
New district court inaugurated in Rohini
‘Katha Utsav’ brings literary giants on common platform
HSIDC hotel sites auctioned at phenomenal price
Cabinet to consider extending Metro up to Gt Noida: PM
Free bone test at camp tomorrow
Three arrested for dowry death in Vaishali
Two arrested for extortion
Indo-Israeli art exhibition begins
Fire in Chanakyapuri office building
Land scam: Admn files caveat application
Ram Dev’s supporters burn Karat’s effigy
|
|
It’s official: Delhi is ‘rape capital’ of the country
New Delhi, January 6 However, Delhi Police Commissioner Dr K.K. Paul claimed that the crime rate in other types of crime had declined, while admitting that the rate of eve teasing and rape cases have increased contributing to a sense of insecurity among the women. While the number of rape cases were 540 in the year 2004, the cases increased to 642 in 2005, showing an increase of 18.89 percent in crime against women. He, however, dismissed the view that increase in rape cases in any way meant that Delhi had become ‘unsafe for women’. “I admit that crime against women, especially kidnapping and rape, do cause an alarm among the public. However, if we have a close look at the number of cases of rape in Delhi, most of these were committed by men known to the victims,” he said while addressing mediapersons at the annual press conference of Delhi Police. The crime rate in the Capital remained below the national average, he claimed. Dr Paul said that although the cases of rape have increased in the city, but the cases of rape by strangers had declined in the city. The rape cases have increased only in the cases where the victim was known to the rapists and used to visit her house or meet her frequently. The percentage of such cases is 97.51 percent. “I would like to say that parents should check such persons who are close to their girl child on the pretext of friendship as the chances of rape are more in such cases,” said Dr Paul. Several steps were taken by Delhi Police during the year to ensure safety of women in Delhi. Dr Paul said the public confidence enjoyed by the Crime Against Women cell was increasing which was a major source of motivation for the police. School children were made aware of martial arts and unarmed combat due to which better confidence and capabilities have emerged which greatly helps girl resist incidents of eve teasing. Further, plainclothes staff were deployed at sensitive places like the South Campus, the North Campus and market areas. A round-the-clock women mobile team has been constituted to attend to urgent and serious distress or emergency calls from women. Also, under a unique experiment
‘Parivartan’, women police officials have been posted at North West and South West Districts to contain incidents of eve teasing and crime against women. These women police officials have been imparted special training to control crime against women. The results have been encouraging, Dr Paul said. Despite the claims made by the Delhi Police, the fact can not be denied that the city has witnessed several gang rape cases that jolted the entire city. These include the Dhaula Kuan rape case in which a college girl was dragged into a car and repeatedly gang raped in a moving vehicle. The police remained unable to trace the car even after the PCR call was made by passersby immediately after the incident. The rapists are still at large, with the police content with the arrest of one person who has no clues about his so-called accomplices. The Mayapuri rape case was also similar, involving a woman who was dragged into a car and gang raped by four persons. In all the cases, the vehicles used could not be traced. In another rape case that took place at
Safdarjang, the police apprehended the accused but the medical report turned out to be negative, suggesting carelessness on part of the investigating officials. Besides, motor vehicle thefts have increased manifold, indicating non-active policing in the city. The auto thieves pick up a vehicle from the area and the area police remains unaware about the culprits. “The crime rate has gone up due to motor vehicle thefts and not because of heinous crimes,” said Dr Paul. The other type of crime which hit the local people most is snatching, which has increased by 47.48 percent. The number of cases registered in the year 2005 were 1,112, compared to 754 cases in 2004. Similarly, 1,975 cases of burglary were reported during 2005 as compared to 1,768 cases the previous year, which is an 11.71 percent increase. Senior police officials believe that the rate of crimes like burglaries, dacoities, motor vehicle thefts could be reduced substantially by effective policing and local police intelligence. But the increase in these crime shows that local policing is ineffective in the city. However, cases of murder have declined in comparison to the previous year. This year, 437 cases of murder were reported in 2005, in comparison to 450 cases the previous year, which is a 2.89 percent decline.
|
|
Delhi Police to seek Salem’s custody
New Delhi, January 6 “At present, he (Salem) is in CBI custody, then the Mumbai Police want to interrogate him, then Delhi Police will move to seek his custody,” he said at the annual press conference. The Commissioner said that he had deposed before a court as witness in connection with an extortion case involving Salem. A designated TADA court had remanded Salem to CBI custody till January 9 in the 1993 bomb blasts case after the agency informed that they need to confront him with co-accused Riyaz Siddiqui. This is the second time Salem has been remanded to CBI custody; the first was when he was extradited from Portugal on November 11, 2005. Salem was arrested on November 11 and CBI got his custody till November 23. He was later remanded to judicial custody after CBI told the court that they do not need his custody for the time being and it surrendered his custody to the Anti-Terrorist Squad
(ATS) of Mumbai Police in connection with a murder case.
|
|
Welfare schemes for police personnel
New Delhi, January 6 Dr K. K. Paul said in his annual press conference today here that the police personnel have tremendous work load due to hectic duty hours and hence it was necessary to look forward for their welfare too. The Delhi Police have opened two Delhi Police Public Schools for the police personnel. Now there would be total three schools of Delhi Police. Thirteen study centres have been opened at various police colonies for the wards of the policemen to give coaching to them in their studies. Medical checkup of all the policemen upto the rank of sub inspector, who have completed 40 years of their age, is being conducted by Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital. Besides, an Industrial Training College is functioning at PTS Wazirabad in which 170 students are undergoing mechanical training in various disciplines.
|
|
Three arrested for Gurgaon gang rape
Gurgaon, January 6 The three accused, Pradeep, Kallu and Krishan are residents of village Rampura, near here. The police nabbed them in the village along with the Scorpio vehicle they had used for the crime. The victim, an employee of an export firm located in Manesar industrial belt, was returning home in the evening to her village Pataudi along with two woman relatives who also work in the same company. After the day’s work, the three saw a vehicle approaching and decided to get into it. After interacting with the driver, the women got the impression that it was a routine commercial vehicle. Two men were already in it. Soon the driver acted suspiciously. He made a detour and started going towards Rewari. The older woman with her daughter then jumped out from the moving vehicle. However, her niece could not do so. According to the police, the three raped her in the vehicle on a kuchcha road on the stretch from Dharuhera towards Rewari. They dumped her after the crime and escaped. The victim then pleaded with the driver of a passing truck for a lift. The driver did give her a lift, but he also violated her and dumped her in the area. She then got a lift from another truck driver who brought her to Pataudi. The police say that one of the culprits borrowed the Scorpio from his relative in Balandh village near Bahadurgarh in Jhajhar district. The police are now hunting for the truck driver who raped her.
|
|
Quick knee fix at Ganga Ram Hospital now
New Delhi, January 6 Sir Ganga Ram Hospital here has taken the lead in North India of procuring and installing the knee surgery navigation system that has a definite edge over the conventional system. Dr Naveen Talwar, Consultant, Joint Replacement Surgery, Department of Orthopaerdics at the hospital says that Total Knee Replacement is an extremely successful way to treat persons suffering from severe knee pain. “The new system eliminates chances of human error that are possible in the conventional surgery and has few post operative complications. It eliminates eye-balling where the surgeon’s eye sees and balances the knee. It also shortens skin incision and contributes to improved joint stability and a speedy recovery. The high precision surgery using this system costs Rs 1.5 lakh. The same system with separate software can be used for other specialities as neurosurgery, ENT, spine, hip and trauma. Patients who have not had a successful Total Knee Replacement can be evaluated and reoperated using this
system but the new joint replacement costs more the second time.” Dr Talwar explained that the navigation system uses an infrared camera along with unique instrument tracking software to monitor the position and
mechanical alignment of the implant components relative to the patient’s knee anatomy. “Wireless instruments feed data about the movements of the knee to a computer which in turn analyses and displays them on the monitor through graphs and charts. This enables the surgeon get information about optimum angles, lines and measurements needed to align the prosthetic knee with the patient.” He said that patients suffering from bad osteo-arthritis of the knee need Total Knee Replacement. The symptoms are pain or deformity of the knee and limitation of movement. “In most cases, pain is the biggest limiting factor and cases are normally reported at the age of 55 and above.” The hospital has already installed the system in the Operation Theatre at a cost exceeding Rs one crore. “The Department will do the first surgery using the surgical navigation system on Sunday on a 70 year-old-woman with arthritis in both knees. Another young patient from Panipat who has registered with the hospital for a Total Hip Replacement Surgery will be operated upon on Monday using the same system.” Dr Talwar said that persons undergoing this surgery are prescribed three days of hospital stay. The procedure for each knee takes about 45 minutes. After 48-hours bed rest, the patient can walk. The stitches are removed after two weeks from the day of discharge from the hospital. Treatment is followed up with physiotherapy, duration of which varies from patient to patient.
|
|
City shivers from chilly winds
New Delhi, January 6 It was the fourth consecutive day that Delhi experienced chilly winds, which the weathermen say have been caused by western disturbances and snowfall in several parts of north India. The chill has led to steady decrease in temperature over the last four days. Slight fog was also seen in the morning. The chill could intensify in the next 24 hours as the Met office predicted that the minimum temperature could further go down, to 4.0 degrees tomorrow. It also indicated the possibility of a cloudy sky.
|
|
New district court inaugurated in Rohini
New Delhi, January 6 Speaking on the occasion, Ms Dikshit said the establishment of the new courts would help in dispensing of justice at the doorstep of the litigants. She said decentralisation of courts was the need of the hour in view of the growing population of Delhi. “Despite the fact that many are agitated, I do believe that Delhi with its growing population does require decentralisation of justice,” Ms Dikshit said referring to the opposition shown by the protesting lawyers. Police was deployed in strength for the function in view of the protest by the Bar Association, which claims that the shifting of the courts to Rohini was in violation of a Supreme Court order. Delhi High Court Chief Justice Markendeya Katju was also present at the inauguration of the new court complex at Rohini in the north-western part of the metropolis. Lawyers affiliated to the Delhi Bar Association, who have been on a strike since three days over the setting up of new courts “without any facilities for lawyers and litigants”, boycotted the function and held demonstrations outside the venue. They raised slogans against Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal for issuing a direction to transfer cases to Rohini while the apex court is still hearing the DBA’s petition challenging the setting up of the courts without taking into account the interest of the Bar. Their contention was, however, challenged by the Chairman of the Building Construction Committee and High Court Justice Virendra Jain, who said the Rs 60 crore project included a 400 car capacity parking lot and sufficient chambers for lawyers and litigants.
|
|
‘Katha Utsav’ brings literary giants on common platform
New Delhi, January 6 Involving some 200 events spread over 50 venues, ‘Katha Utsav 2006’ celebrations “will entail an exchange of stories from different cities narrated through the eyes of writers, activists, policy-makers, academics and translators,” says Sushma Bahl, the core project director for the festival. “The basic idea is to discuss how the city influenced these people, especially the writers and brought about the specific writing that they produced. Our main focus is on providing this platform and bringing people together,” she says. Some big names from abroad include the Chinese littérateur, Ma Yuan, the man responsible for re-creating the literary landscape in China. Then there is the celebrated novelist from Hong-Kong, Xu Xi and the Austrian poet laureate, Tissa Abeyesekara. From nearer home, interested young people are offered a workshop on film scripting with Javed Akhtar. The celebrated Bengali filmmaker, Shyam Benegal and U.R. Ananthamurthy, the literary giant from the South, will also be present during the festival. “The event gets its inspiration from the ‘Asia Relations Conference’ held in March 1947 by Jawaharlal Nehru. However, we find that the situation has not really changed much since 1947. Basic issues that dominated the conference then will dominate this one also like the problems of water, sanitation, slums and poverty,” says Geeta Dharmarajan, executive director of Katha. She further adds that “this Utsav is an ambitious attempt to inspire responsive and responsible citizens and it will provide a forum for diverse groups of citizens to get together, think and plan and act collectively.” The festival also offers a unique opportunity to school and college students to sign up for the city stories contest and talent search contests for aspiring writers. Then there is the urban design contest, again a talent search for students of architecture and design. The festival also offers a workshop dealing with the challenges of literary translation, a fresh fiction festival showcasing writers, poets and playwrights below 30 years and master classes, which provides students and academics an interface with international writers and activists. “We have for the last 15 years been hand-picking talent in writing and this is limited not just to students but also house-wives and scientists,” says K. Dharamrajan, who is closely associated with the organising of the festival. “We are giving young people a unique opportunity to engage with writers, academicians and activists. This should be fertile ground for them to develop,” he adds. Prabodh Parikh, an academic from Mumbai, says, “this platform will give youngsters an opportunity to watch how stories are told. The film festival and the scripting workshops should make an impact on them and you never know the magic may work on one of them.”
|
|
HSIDC hotel sites auctioned at phenomenal price
Gurgaon, January 6 Two hotel sites measuring 2850 square metre each at Industrial Model Township (IMT) at Manesar were auctioned at Rs 29.60 crore and Rs 26.20 crore. The first hotel site was sold at the rate of Rs 1.03 lakh per metre and the second at the rate of Rs 91,000 per metre, the highest in the region. The reserve price of these two hotel sites was Rs 6 crore. The third hotel at Bawal in Rewari, measuring 3456 square metre, was sold at Rs 15.5 crore, Rs 44.84 thousand per square yard, against the reserve price of Rs 5 crore. The spokesperson of the HSIDC informed that the maximum FAR allowed is 500 per cent of the carved out site with maximum permissible height of 24 metres. The construction of the building would be governed by zoning. The hotel sites would have their own architecture though the plans shall be approved by the senior authorities of the HSIDC, added the official. Just a few days back, the Haryana Urban Development Authority had auctioned 55 commercial sites (shops, shop-cum-office complexes, booths, etc) in different sectors. These sites were sold at Rs 47.39 crore against the reserve price of Rs 10.52 crore.
|
|
Cabinet to consider extending Metro up to Gt Noida: PM
Greater Noida, January 6 The promise was held out in Dr Singh’s address at the inauguration of the India Expo Centre and Mart here when Uttar Pradesh Development Council Chairman Amar Singh and Member of Parliament from Khurja, Ashok Pradhan, raised the issues. Mr Amar Singh said that in a bid to expedite the extension of the Delhi Metro project to the satellite township of Noida, the Uttar Pradesh Government plans to bear the entire cost of construction of the line to Noida. The Samajwadi Party General Secretary said the State Government has decided to bear the complete expenditure involved in the construction of the Metro rail from Delhi to Noida. He also appealed to the Centre to help bring the Metro line all the way to the industrial township of Greater Noida. Mr Amar Singh called for the Centre’s assistance in sprucing up infrastructure in and around the township. Mr Pradhan sought the Prime Minister’s intervention on the issue of the construction of an airport in Greater Noida. He said the new airport will ease the present traffic congestion at the Capital’s IGI airport.
|
|
Free bone test at camp tomorrow
Faridabad, January 6 Stating this, the patron of the club, S. K. Gupta, said it was for the first time in the history of the district that such a camp was being held. He said such a check-up was important for persons above the age of 35 years as bones started losing calcium due to the advancement of age. He said the weakening of bones lead to several diseases, including osteoporosis. This test was not common as it cost between Rs 1000 and Rs 1500 in the market but it would be done free at the camp. Orthopedic consultation by the experts would also be made available at the camp, which he said would be held at Savitri X-Ray Laboratory in Sector 7 here.
|
|
Three arrested for dowry death in Vaishali
Ghaziabad, January 6 The police took the action on the basis of a written complaint lodged by the father of the deceased. According to the information available, the woman, Poonam, had died after a fall from the seventh floor. Sunil, son of Naresh Sharma, a resident of Flat No 711 in Mahagun Villa apartments in Vaishali Sector-IV under the Indirapuram police station, had married Poonam, daughter of B.P. Sharma, three years ago. Sunil is a software engineer in a Gurgaon-based private company. Poonam’s father is a group general manager with Door Sanchar in Delhi. According to the police, Poonam was rushed to Chander Laxmi Hospital in a serious condition on Thursday where she breathed her last after some time. Her parents later lodged a complaint with the police, alleging dowry death. Poonam’s father, in his complaint, said his daughter was often harassed by in-laws for more dowry. The police have arrested her husband Sunil and his parents Naresh and Kiran after registering a case of dowry death. The deceased Poonam has left behind a two- year-old son. The police have not been able to clarify how Poonam was done to death. Her in-laws have told the police that the woman had jumped to her death from their seventh floor flat, which in itself appears to be a concocted story. The actual position will be known on receipt of the post-mortem report, the police said. The parents of the deceased were informed by a neighbour on telephone.
|
|
Two arrested for extortion
New Delhi, January 6 According to the police, a complaint was received from the businessman that someone was threatening him and demanding Rs 25 lakh. On January 4, the extortionist again made a call and the time and date was fixed with him in Noida to deliver the money. The accused were arrested soon afterwards. During interrogation, the accused disclosed that the complainant had sold him property worth Rs 50 lakh following which he hatched a plan to extort money from him. They also disclosed that they had also threatened one Zeenat in Aligarh for Rs 10 lakh, said the police. A case has been registered in Pandav Nagar police station.
|
|
Indo-Israeli art exhibition begins
New Delhi, January 6 Titled ‘Traces of Touch II’, the exhibition is a joint venture by NGO Delhi Study Group and Embassy of Israel. Ten artists from Israel and seven from India are sharing the floor to display their creations. “Art and culture have no boundaries. Artistic minds speak the same language. We are open societies and this is an excellent medium to bridge the gap between the two nations,” Israeli ambassador to India, Mr David Danieli said after inaugurating the exhibition. “Art and painting are a vital aspect of our presence in India. We look forward to several such joint efforts between us in the future,” he added. Israeli artists, who are taking part in the exhibition, feel Indian art was very ‘spicy’, incorporating in it a lot of passion and authenticity. “This art reflects the Indian culture and tradition. We, on the other hand, are very much American, that is, very modern, blending the past with the future, ” Doron Polak, an artist,
said. — TNS
|
|
Fire in Chanakyapuri office building
New Delhi, January 6 According to the Delhi Fire Service, the blaze, which broke out at about 11.00 a.m., was put out within 40 minutes by 20 fire tenders. The fire started on the fifth floor of the high-rise building and its cause was yet to be ascertained, officials said. The officials said no casualty had been reported and the extent of damage was being
assessed. — TNS
|
|
Land scam: Admn files caveat application
Ghaziabad, January 6 District Magistrate Santosh Kumar Yadav said that accused Ashok Chhabra, who was arrested last month and is currently in jail in the case, had sold government land in village Pasonda in “fraudulent” way after getting the name transferred in his name. The administration has filed the caveat application so that accused Chhabra may not get any type of relief from the High Court, he
said. — TNS
|
|
Ram Dev’s supporters burn Karat’s effigy
Noida, January 6 Baba’s followers also threatened to launch a large-scale agitation against Ms Karat in this connection. A number of BJP and Hinduvata leaders had collected in front of the District Magistrate’ office and raised slogans in favour of Baba Ram Dev and his medicines. Later, the agitators burnt the effigy of Ms Karat.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
New Delhi, January 6
